Last update - 00:00 28/08/2007
Prisons Service denies treason convict Manbar's parole request
By Jonathan Lis and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
The Israel Prisons Service parole board denied Tuesday a request by former businessman and convicted traitor Nachum Manbar that his 16-year prison sentence be reduced by one third.
Manbar was convicted of treason in 1998 for selling military equipment to Iran and of other security crimes including helping the enemy in its war against Israel and passing information to the enemy with the intention of harming the state's security.
Roughly one month ago, prosecutors informed the parole board that state is opposed to reducing Manbar's jail sentence due to concern he will become a spy for Iran.
Israel's security and intelligence institutions Mossad and the Shin Bet backed the state's opposition to reducing the treason convict's sentence at the parole hearing. They said Manbar seriously and irreversibly damaged Israel's security. They also claimed Manbar sold Iran equipment and information intended for use in building a mustard and nerve gas factory, probably for use against Israel.
The two institutions said they believed Iran significantly upgraded its non-conventional weapon capabilities with the aid given by Manbar.
"In light of Iranian intelligence's known methods there is a serious concern it would take interest in Manbar if he was released, to glean information and use him for Iran's objectives," a security source said.
The state prosecution argued that the institutions' forecast combined with the impression that Manbar has no moral inhibitions keeping him from committing further offenses would make him an easy target for Iran to recruit as a spy.
Manbar, who was born on Kibbutz Givat Haim, near Hadera, fled Israel in the 1980s after being convicted of fraud. He closed several weapons deals with Iran while living in Poland and planned larger deals, like selling Iran Soviet-made tanks, that were never carried out.
The arms deals brought Manbar into contact with those responsible for Iran's missile and chemical weapons programs. After several meetings with them, primarily in Vienna, Manbar agreed to supply Iran with more than 120tons of chemical material, which could be used to make chemical weapons. All told, his deals with Iran are said to have made Manbar tens of millions of dollars.